Pew: US has more immigrants than any country in the world

FILE - In this Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2017, file photo, Erik Danialian, a 21-year-old immigrant from Iran, poses with his U.S citizenship certificate in front of a large U.S. flag after a naturalization ceremony at the Los Angeles Convention Center, in Los Angeles. Since Trump's immigration enforcement order and travel ban, immigrants have been rushing to prepare applications to become Americans. Advocates in Los Angeles, Maryland and New York catering to diverse immigrant communities from Latin America, Asia and the Middle East all said they've been fielding a rising number of questions about how to become a U.S. citizen. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)

America really is a nation of immigrants.

The proof: Pew Research Center said Wednesday that the U.S. has the more immigrants than any other country in the world.

A new analysis shows that the immigrant share of the U.S. population is at 100-year high, 13.4 percent.

"The U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 43.2 million in 2015. Since 1965, when U.S. immigration laws replaced a national quota system, the number of immigrants living in the U.S. has more than quadrupled. Immigrants today account for 13.4 percent of the U.S. population, nearly triple the share in 1970," said the data-rich analysis. That will grow to 78 million by 2065, said Pew.

About a quarter, or 11 million, are here illegally, with most being naturalized citizens.

Other key findings:

— Deportations in former President Obama's final year in office "sharply declined," from a high of 435,000 to 240,000

— Border arrests since last October have increased to 199,000 from 186,000.

— Most border arrests are no longer Mexicans, but those from other Latin nations.

— Only half of immigrants are proficient on English.

— Most live in just three states: California (25 percent), Texas (11 percent) and New York (10 percent).